The invention relates to a process for erecting and closing a folding carton made from a one-piece board blank consisting of base, side and top panels connected by folding lines as well as to an apparatus for carrying out this process.
The way such processes generally work is to place the top panel of the board blank onto the product that is to be packaged, after which fixed folding elements fold the side panels and then the base panels into position. The final operation is to seal the base panels. During the whole of this process it is necessary to hold and guide the product being packaged in such a way that the base panels can be folded into place.
An obvious alternative is to arrange the folding and closing operations the other way round, i.e. to place the product being packaged onto the base panel of the board blank and to fold the side and top panels upwards. When the pack is closed, however, the top panels are supported by the product which is not an acceptable solution when sensitive products are being processed.